Aurebesh City
by GreenMaureen
Summary: A group of young, whiny, lovable bohemians in Coruscant's Aurebesh City struggle to survive, love, and keep their artistic integrity despite the threats of poverty, corruption, death sticks, and the Decline. Mostly musicalverse; Fate of the Jedi-era.


**AN: I know, I know: Starting another story when I have several unfinished ones and haven't been able to get online for over a week. Terrible idea, but I had to. You can expect more frequent updates on this than any of my other ones, though, because unlike the rest of my stories, I don't need to spend hours trying to figure out where the plot is going. Yay!**

**Oh, and this probably goes without saying, but I don't own Rent or Star Wars. (Do I need to put in a disclaimer? I thought it was included in the agreement, but everyone else does them.)…**

**So, here goes. If you want to get the full effect of this, you can listen to either Seasons of Love (OBC version) or the Star Wars main theme, hehe.**

On Yavin Day Eve, two beings shivered inside their decrepit Aurebesh City loft. One, a tall, classically handsome, golden-haired human male, reclined on a broken couch as he fiddled with his battered Fenri guitar. The other, an awkward but adorable Devaronian female with white-blonde hair and jade green eyes, adjusted her blue-and-white striped scarf and picked up her beloved if outdated holocam.

"Yavin Day Eve, 29 ABY, 21h00, Coruscant standard time. From here on in, I shoot without a script. See if anything comes of it, instead of my old kriff.

Madhi Vaandt clutched her holocam to her chest as she recorded a slow panorama of the quarters she shared with her old pal Rock Darklighter: The tattered concert posters on the walls, the screenplays piled into shuddering stacks of flimsi, the illegal carbon-burning stove.

"First shot: Rock, tuning the Fenri guitar he hasn't played in a year."

"This won't tune!" complained Rock, shaking his golden curls in frustration.

"So we hear," retorted Madhi for the benefit of the camera. "He's just coming back from half a year's withdrawal."

"Are you talking to me?" asked Rock.

"Not at all," replied Madhi. "Are you ready? Hold that focus steady! Tell the folks back home what you're doing, Rock."

He sighed reluctantly. I'm writing one great song before-"

The wall-mounted comm buzzed. Rock looked relieved.

"The comm rings. We screen," announced Madhi.

"Speeeeeeeeeeak,"blared the pre-recorded message. BEEP.

"That was a very loud beep. I don't even know if this is working. Madhi? Madhi, are you there? Are you screening your calls? It's Mom."

Madhi cringed.

"We wanted to comm and say, we love you! And we'll miss you tomorrow. Ceri and the kids are here, send their love. Oh! I hope you like the mini food-synthesizer we sent you. Just don't leave it on, dear, when you leave the house. Oh, and Madhi, we're sorry to hear that Marin dumped you. I say, c'est la vie. There are other opees in the sea. Love, Mom!"

Rock stifled a rare giggle. Madhi blushed and shook her head.

_Take two_. "Tell the folks back home what you're doing, Rock!"

"I'm writing one great song-"

The comm buzzed again.

"The comm rings!" Madhi announced.

"Yes!" hissed Rock.

"We screen," Madhi intoned.

_Speeeeeeeeeeak_. BEEP. "Galla seeds roasting," sang a deep, soulful voice.

"KOLTSTAN!" exclaimed Madhi and Rock.

"I'm downstairs!" said Koltstan.

Madhi carefully lowered the holocam, sprinted to the comm receiver and picked it up. "Hey!"

"Rock picked up the phone?" asked Koltstan.

"No, it's me," said Madhi, slightly embarrassed.

"Throw down the key," requested Koltstan. Cradling the receiver between her shoulder and ear, Madhi scribbled the key code to the loft on a scrap of flimsi and tossed it out the viewport, where she could see Koltstan waving frantically from the pedway below.

"A wild night is now preordained," she informed Rock, shutting the viewport.

"I may be detained," warned Koltstan.

"What does he- whaddya mean, detained?" demanded Madhi, but the line was dead. Before she could hit the repeat button, the comm buzzed again. She answered immediately.

"HO-HO-HO!" chortled an annoying, hearty voice.

"_Berni_!" exclaimed Madhi and Rock. Madhi covered the receiver. "_Kriff_!"

"Dudes, I'm on my way," Berni continued.

"Great!" Madhi covered the receiver again. "_Bloah_!"

"I need the rent," said Berni.

"What rent?"

"This past year's rent, which I let slide."

"Let slide? You said we were golden!"

"When you bought the building!" Rock chipped in.

"When we were roommates!" insisted Madhi.

"Remember? You lived here!" concluded Rock.

"How could I forget?" sighed Bern. "You, me, Koltstan, and Marin. How is the drama queen?"

"She's performing tonight," provided Madhi.

"I know. Still her production manager?" inquired Berni.

"Two days ago, I was bumped," admitted Madhi.

"You still dating her?" asked Berni. _The nerve!_

"Last month, I was dumped. She's in love." Of course, Madhi had assumed the lovely but flighty Marin was in love with _her_. As usual, she'd been wrong.

"She's got a new woman?"

"Yes."

"What's her name?"

"Sardonne."

"Rent, my amigos, is due! Or I will have to evict you!" The line went dead.

Rock continued to play on his guitar until-

"The power blows!" exclaimed Madhi.

Rock stood and angrily tossed his guitar onto the couch.

_How do you document real life when real life's getting more like fiction each day? _Wondered Madhi.

Rock met her eyes as if he was having the same thought, and they both exclaimed, "_Rent!"_

"This is ridiculous! We're starving and frozen!" complained Madhi.

"Some life that we've chosen," snapped Rock.

"Well, how are we gonna pay last year's rent?" asked Madhi rhetorically. _We need some light_, she thought. Rummaging through a drawer, she came up with a handful of old-fashioned candles and tossed them to Rock.

"We light candles!" Madhi narrated, forgetting she wasn't filming. Rock was trying to light the candles in the illict stove, but the flames in it were barely smoldering.

"We need to start a fire," said Rock.

"How? There's nothing to burn!" protested Madhi.

"We've got posters," said Rock. Before Madhi could stop him, he'd ripped one of his concert posters off the wall and tossed it into the stove.

"And screenplays," said Madhi, grabbing a stack of her early, idealistic ones and dumping them into the growing flames.

"But we still need to pay the rent," said Rock, eyes gleaming in the flames.

"How?" snapped Madhi, watching as the flames devoured their dreams.

On the pedway, a well-dressed, quite stressed young Lorrdian woman clutched the public comm unit. "Don't screen, Marin! It's me, Sardonne! Your substitue production manager-hey, hey, hey! Did you eat?" She shook her head at the reply. "Don't change the subject, Marin." She widened her eyes in concern, though she knew Marin couldn't see her. "But darling, you haven't eaten all day!"

Marin was panicking on the other end. Sardonne sighed. As if she already didn't have enough problems. "You won't throw up. You _won't throw up. _The digital delay- it didn't blow up, exactly. There may have been one teeny, tiny spark- _You're not calling Madhi!"_ She slammed down the comm unit.

The ruffians had dragged Koltstan into an alley, beaten him, and taken his coat. He knew he should stand up, get help, at least shout—but he couldn't. He was too dizzy. He clung to life, willing himself not to lose consciousness. _Some welcome_, he thought.

Bern Faytonni III, sitting in his expensive and currently parked speeder, picked up his portable comm and called his wife. "Ali, baby, you sound sad. Do you believe those two? The freeloaders! Ever since our wedding, they won't take me seriously. They can't see past your money—they think I want to be the next Senator Valorum! But just you wait—I can make them see reason."

In the loft, the comm buzzed. Madhi angrily stalked away from the stove to pick it up. "Marin? You want me to fix your kriffing equipment? Fine! I'll be there!"

He threw receiver into the stove and ran out to the balcony. Rock rescued the comm from the flames and followed him.

Apparently, they weren't the only ones being threatened with eviction. Most of the occupants of the apartment complex were out on their balconies, choosing to reject the dark and cold indoors for the dark and cold outdoors. They were shouting in a variety of languages and shaking their fists at the sky.

Infuriated, Rock ran back inside, tore the eviction notice off the door, and held it to the stove until a flame licked the edge of it. He ran outside and tossed it off the balcony as a silent protest. A moment later, someone across the street followed suit. Then the Twi'Lek upstairs, then the Nautolan family down the lane. Soon the burning scraps of flimsi were falling like deadly rain between the buildings. Speeder operators cursed and swerved, and pedestrians pointed and shouted. Rock shuddered as he realized what he had started.

Koltstan knew he was going to pass out. And if he passed out, he was going to die. He summoned his last bit of strength. "Help!"

A beautiful, exotic humanoid face appeared over Koltstan. _This must be the end_, he thought.

"You okay, honey?" the strange being asked. Koltstan rubbed his eyes. "I'm afraid so."

"Here, let's get you cleaned up," said the strange being. "We need to hurry. I've got a Life Force meeting soon."

"Life Force?" asked Koltstan.

"Yeah, for people with the Decline."

"Oh. I might as well come, then."

"Come on, then. I'm Rystall, by the way."

"Koltstan."

The strange being helped him up and led him down the dark pedway as the smoldering scraps of flimsi burned themselves out.


End file.
